Visit to Two Cocks Brewery

Visit to Two Cocks Brewery L'Ortolan

On a rainy Monday afternoon we were welcomed with a lot of kindness and passion by Phil, Michael and Lucy at the Two Cocks Brewery in Newbury.

Lucy is in charge and Michael and Phil started farming about 5 years ago following a relocation to the countryside, swapping busy city life in London for the peace and quiet of Newbury. Their farm production, eggs, meat, pies and other delicious products, are mostly exclusive to premium suppliers and restaurants in Wiltshire and Berkshire.

Farming alone proved not to be enough for the ambitious duo and they started the brewery, with the first brew of their Two Cocks Ale in 2011. The inspiration fro the brewery came from staring at the beautiful wild hops found on the property. As a natural cycle they are using the pure water from a borehole sunk deep into the Berkshire chalk, which we had the opportunity to try and compare to the Thames Water, and what a difference that is! Production is sustainable as all the leftover grains are used to feed the cattle on the farm.

After we arrived we had a very nice tasting of the various grains with different toasted intensity as well as the different kind of hops and water they use. We were shown the vat room and some of the more technical processes including the fermentations and filtration.

To conclude, we had an amazing tasting of the all range where everyone had their favourite but all were keen to say that all the ales were top quality and could satisfy our thirst at any time. To pair it a very nice touch was to be able to try some home-made pork rillette soufflé produced from the Berkshire black pigs of the farm, very yummy.

And as the sky was getting clearer we had the opportunity to follow Michael and Phil through their farm and through the fields going to play around their very unusual breed of sheep, cows and parks.

A very enjoyable and relaxed afternoon, with authentic passionate people which we are proud to promote at L'Ortolan with at the moment their flagship, the Two Cocks, 'Viscount' Golden Ale. Do have a look at the Two Cocks website for more information

If you are wondering why all the names of the 8 Ales are related to military grades, you will have know that the farm is located on the site of a civil war roundhead encampment of the first battle of Newbury that took place on 20th October 1643, and is also a couple miles away from the Highclere Castle famous as seen on the Downtown Abbey Series.